Children were not permitted to run through the corridors of the Institute. It just wasn't proper behaviour. In the training room though, chaos was to be expected.

"Jace." Alec greeted the other boy his parents had decided to adopt, "I didn't expect to see you here."

Jace just shrugged, dodging as Isabelle charged at him with a yell. When she missed him, she then turned her attention to Alec.

"Spar with me! Spar with me!" She demanded of him.

"Not now Izzy!" Pulling Jace away from the over-excited eight-year-old, Alec cleared his throat nervously, "Listen, I just heard of this place where- "

"- A place?" Jace narrowed his eyes, "What kind of place?"

"Hmmm, yes. What kind of place."

Straightening up at the sound of his Mother's voice, Alec spun around, focusing on a spot over her shoulder. "Just the library Mother. I hear some new books regarding the history of the Lightwoods has come in."

"So?" He heard Jace scoff behind him, "Why should I care about some stupid book?"

"You'll see what I mean." Alec fought to keep his voice straight, not wanting to make it obvious that he was lying.

There was a moment of silence, before Jace moved to stand next to him, "Alright. I'd like to see this book please Mrs Lightwood."

Maryse stared at them for a few moments, narrowing her eyes. It was almost like she was scanning their souls, searching for any and all lies that they had or would tell in the future.

"Alright." She shrugged, "Never let it be said that I was the one holding you back from knowledge…. But you have to take Isabelle with you."

"But- "

"- You either take your sister with you, or you don't leave this room. It's your choice Alec."

"Yes Mother."

…..

"Come on Alec! You're being too slow!" Izzy sped off ahead of them, "The sooner we get to the library, the sooner we can leave and have some real fun!"

As the young girl chattered eagerly about all the 'cool' things she would rather be doing now, Jace leaned over to Alec. "So, where are we really going?"

"It's called Pandemonium, and it's where we can find the High Warlock!"

"So?"

"So, we can prove that we're brave and ready to be Shadowhunters by going to the club and confronting him!"

"… Attack the High Warlock?"

"No… just warn him."

Jace thought about it for a few moments, before smirking. "Sounds fun. So how are we getting away from Izzy?"

As the pair continued to whisper to each other, coming up with the perfect escape plan, Izzy turned and beamed at them. "Alec and Jace, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Shut up Izzy!" Alec snapped, hoping that he wasn't blushing.

"First comes love! Then comes- "

"- I said shut up!"

Izzy danced out of reach of Alec's swipe, that insufferable smirk still on her face. "You'll have to get married someday Alec. Mom and Dad are going to pick out a nice girl for you, and then you'll have lots of little Alec's and- "

"- Izzy, knock it off." Jace interrupted, seeing how pale Alec was getting, "Why don't you go and play in the gardens or something?"

"But- "

"- Go on!"

Isabella glared at them for a few moments, before turning on her heel and flouncing off, leaving the two boys alone.

"Hey." Jace grunted, "You won't have to get married."

Alec just shook his head, straightening up and heading for the exit. "Let's just got out of here."

…

"You know she didn't mean anything mean by it, right?" Jace hissed, as they huddled together, trying to remain hidden in amongst the party-goers, "She was just being Izzy."

"I know."

"Yeah, but- "

"- Just leave it okay. Come on and be quiet!"

They manged to sneak their way inside, only to be confronted by the loud, pounding music and flashing lights inside. As they made their way to a dark corner, where they were unlikely to be seen.

"I can't believe we made it." Alec whispered, eyes darting around the club, eyes widening at the sight of vampires, werewolves and fairies alike.

"Look at them all." Jace's eyes were just as wide, "Is this allowed?"

"So long as they're not breaking any rules, yeah."

"We could get into so much trouble for this."

"I know." Alec winced.

For a moment, they just watched as the crowd surged and moved all around them, nobody even noticing the two children in the corner.

"So… you really think this High Warlock is here?" Jace asked, "Where?"

"I don't know…. But let's have a look around."

"Have a look for what?"

The two boys would never admit that they jumped at the sudden hand poking both of them in the back. When they spun around, they frowned as Isabelle peered up at them, a wicked smirk on her face.

"How did you- "

"- You shouldn't be here." Izzy sang, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Izzy, please- "

"You're going to get into trouble!" Izzy sang again, but it was easy to see how her eyes darted around.

Jace smirked, "Aw… are you scared Izzy?"

If he was expecting Izzy to deny it, he would be surprised, as Isabelle huddled closer to them. "It's dangerous! Mummy says they'll kill us given the chance!"

"Keep your voice down!" Alec hissed, glancing around to make sure that no-one had heard her, "We're Shadowhunters. Danger is our middle name."

"Shadowhunters eh?"

The trio yelped, backing up against the wall as they spotted the group of vampires surrounding them.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" The leader whispered.

"Looks like a trio of trespassers to me." Another one hissed.

"It was an accident!" Alec blurted out, "it was just an accident!"

The leader narrowed his eyes, "I know that face…. Lightwood!"

Almost immediately, the other vampires tensed, baring their fangs at the trio.

"Do you know what we do to little Shadowhunters who step out of bounds? Especially Lightwoods?"

And then Isabelle found her backbone, straightening up and glaring at the vampires. "You can't do anything to us! It's in the Accords!"

Alec and Jace winced. Technically, she was right, but as they hadn't asked permission to come it, it was more of a grey area.

"Mum says you're just a bunch of blood-sucking, no-good- "

"- Izzy!" Alec grabbed his sisters' hand and tried to pull her back, "We should really get going now! Nice to- "

"- Woah, woah, woah!" The leader stopped them from making a quick escape, "Aren't you going to stick around for a drink?"

"Yeah, or two or three!" Another one hissed.

"Hey… did we order these drinks to go?"

"No, why?"

"Because there they GO!"

As the vampires were distracted making 'clever' drink puns, Alec and Jace grabbed Izzy and made a run for it, trying to push through the crowd and find an exit.

"Why can't they pick on someone their own size!" Izzy cried out.

"Because they don't care about things like that!"

The crowd was a lot thicker than it was when they first entered, making it difficult for them to find a way out. When one vampire managed to grab the back of Jace's shirt, Alec spun around, drawing a dagger from inside his pocket and slashing the Downworlder's hand, forcing him to let go.

After taking a wrong turn however, the trio found themselves cornered.

"There we go." The leader snarled, "Just let it happen."

Alec moved in front of Jace and Izzy, glaring at the oncoming vampires. "G-get back!"

"Oooo, so scary!" The vampires all laughed mockingly, "Do it aga- UGH!"

The leader grasped at his throat, a blue glow lighting up the corner of the club.

"Now, now, now." A familiar-looking Asian male almost seemed to glide over to them, yellow cat eyes glowing in the light of the club, flicking his hand as the leader dropped to the ground, "I'm sure I have a 'no drinking children' rule here."

"W-We- "

"- I especially don't want you boys drawing unnecessary attention to my club by killing the Lightwood children."

"These are- these are Lightwood children?!" The leader acted like he was completely unaware of the fact, "How were we meant to know that?!" He then turned to his second in command, "Did you know?"

"Me? No way!"

Then they both turned to their third friend, "You?"

"Yeah, of course I knew! You said so your- "

Within seconds, they'd been thrown out of the club, just as the warlock (because that much was obvious) turned to face them.

"Now… what to do with you three."